The LAUREL CINEMA in Laurel Shopping Center was not a single screen house, it was a twin. Super cheap, super uncomfortable, all such twin theatres which opened around Washington-Baltimore are long since gone —– and are not missed.

There was a LAUREL theatre on Main Street, built in the 1930’s I guess, with about 600 seats including a small balcony. It was great, and we saw maybe 40 or 50 movies there in the 1950-1965 era. They charged about 15% less than most theatres and they played first neighborhood runs a week or two before other theatres got them. In the late 1950’s they installed a huge screen and new stereo —– great for movies like Richard Burton in Alexander the Great.

If memory serves me correctly, one of the auditoriums had stereo and was larger then the second of the twins. No, it wasn’t anything great but they did offer rather cheap prices for second run movies. I do recall that they had pictures of several of local Maryland movie theaters some closed, some still open. Towards the end, they showed primarily Hindi films. Retail stores have no taken over the space that was once a movie theater.

Although Boxoffice Magazine published a small architect’s drawing of this theater in their issue of December 20, 1965, they failed to give the name of the architect. Construction was about to begin, and completion was expected by spring, 1966. The theater was built for Lipsner Enterprises, and was originally called simply the Cinema. It was to be a single screen house equipped for 70mm movies, and would seat about 1000 patrons.

The drawing showed a rather plain, boxy building with one corner chopped off for the entrance. Instead of a traditional marquee there was a flat attraction board mounted above a canopy. The text of the article said that the house would also have a 24-foot stage with double drapes, so that live events could be presented.